Prominent Couple Found Dead In Burlington Home

Police Seek Motive In Murder-suicide

Burlington Couple Found Dead In Home

BURLINGTON — State police searched for a motive Saturday in the murder-suicide of two prominent residents, Sheila and Richard Tracy.

The Tracys were found lying dead in separate rooms of their spacious two-story house on Spielman Highway, also known as Route 4, shortly before 6 a.m., police said.

Both were shot in the chest, a spokeswoman with the state medical examiner's office said. Sheila Tracy's death was a homicide; Richard Tracy committed suicide, the spokeswoman said.

Richard Tracy was a self-employed developer and engineer who served on the town's sewer commission. Sheila Tracy was co-owner of Partners Realty Group Ltd. Both were known throughout the town for their generosity, particularly with children.

"This is a true tragedy. The Tracys were very active and respected citizens in the Burlington community," First Selectman Ted Scheidel said.

The Tracys were both born in Bristol and moved to Burlington 31 years ago. Richard Tracy employed many young people during summers and paid to send many boys to basketball camps. Sheila also will be remembered for making the tree lighting and Christmas caroling ceremony -- hosted by her husband -- a townwide tradition.

State police learned of the incident at 5:45 a.m. when an unidentified person called 911 to report "trouble at the Tracy home," said State Police Sgt. Brian Acker of the major crimes division.

When state troopers arrived the Tracys were dead, Acker said. He declined to identify the type of gun used and said he did not know exactly where the bodies were found in the nine-room house, which is next to a pond surrounded by trees.

Acker also would not speculate on a motive.

As investigators worked inside the house, which is at the end of a 1,000-foot driveway, news of the deaths spread throughout town. Friends and colleagues shared first disbelief then conjecture

about what went wrong Saturday morning inside the Tracy home.

The couple's sons, Michael and Thomas, asked Scheidel to solicit prayers from the community.

Michael, who works as a partner in his mother's real estate firm, is a basketball coach at Lewis Mills High School. Thomas worked with his father, friends said. Their younger brother, Daniel, died in an automobile accident in June 1983 after attending a concert in New Haven. His death occurred weeks shy of his high school graduation.

Danny's love for basketball may have been a catalyst for the family's interest in sponsoring scholarships to basketball camp, one friend said.

"They did so much for the children in this town. They offered them many jobs. They kept three, four, five working odd jobs at a time. They were an extremely caring family. It's such a tremendous loss. I can't fathom this," said Robert Sheriffs, who had served with Sheila Tracy on the recreation commission.

As Dave Galusha sat in his white pickup truck on the side of the road, his wife, Edith, stood on the side of the highway. They both stared blankly at the officer at the edge of the driveway.

"I really can't deal with this," said Edith Galusha, the Tracys' next door neighbor for 18 years.

The Galushas said the Tracys gave their sons, Josh and Jeff, summer landscaping jobs for years. Last week, they laid off Josh unexpectedly.

Richard Tracy and his son, Thomas, were the boys' mentors, he said. They taught the boys to respect discipline and hard work.

"I call them civic-minded, responsible, honest, hard-working, generous," said Dave Galusha, who served on the board of directors for Wheeler Clinic in Plainville with Richard Tracy.

Margo Larson socialized last St. Patrick's Day at the Tracys' annual dinner party. Richard Tracy's stories came to Margo Larson's mind.

"The thing that sticks with me most is [that] Dick was a historian," said Larson, a sewer commissioner. "Socially, he'd tell us stories about Bristol and Burlington because he had a sense of history. He'd tell us stories in a very entertaining way.

Sheila Tracy's volunteer work at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church in the Collinsville section of Canton was something another friend remembered.

Services will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. at St. Patrick's Church in Collinsville